The 10 Best Pooper Scoopers

We spent 40 hours on research, videography, and editing, to review the top picks for this wiki. It's the most unpleasant part of owning a dog, but being a good citizen and cleaning up after your pooch doesn't have to be messy and smelly. These pooper scoopers are designed to pick up behind your four-legged friend on any surface, so that both you and your buddy can enjoy a fresh and odor-free yard and neighborhood.
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We spent 40 hours on research, videography, and editing, to review the top picks for this wiki. It's the most unpleasant part of owning a dog, but being a good citizen and cleaning up after your pooch doesn't have to be messy and smelly. These pooper scoopers are designed to pick up behind your four-legged friend on any surface, so that both you and your buddy can enjoy a fresh and odor-free yard and neighborhood.
When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to support our work.
Skip to the best pooper scooper on Amazon.

10. Poop Patrol Jaw Scoop

The Poop Patrol Jaw Scoop picks up both wet and dry droppings well, and is closed entirely on the bottom and sides of the scoop, so poop never falls out. It's best for single-dog homes, though, as it's not big enough to grab a whole lot in one trip.

9. Doody Digger

If you want a nifty one-piece solution, the Doody Digger is a unique option. It looks like a long vacuum cleaner attachment, and to use it you simply scoop the waste up and hold the device upright, depositing it into the bag for a no-mess outcome.

8. Petmate Clean Response System

The Petmate Clean Response System has a cover on the pan, which not only helps contain the waste but also hides the unsightly pile until you dump it. The large-capacity swivel bin is great for larger breeds, or if you tend to go a while between pickups.

7. Nature's Miracle 2-in-1

The Nature's Miracle 2-in-1 comes with a rake that makes it a cinch to roll waste into the pan for quick pickups. It also washes off easily when it's time to clean, but it's not much use if your pet has diarrhea or non-firm stools, as it will just slide through the rake.

6. Dara Giants Combo

The Dara Giants Combo comes with 50 bags that are perfectly-sized to fit the bin, so you never have to worry about washing it out. It also has an oversized scoop that holds up to 2.5 pounds, so you can clean up your entire yard in one trip.

5. Royal Pet

If you've had bad luck with plastic scoopers, then this option from Royal Pet is made of sleek aluminum and wood, so it can take some rough treatment. It's easy to carry and use, and the handles are long enough to be comfortable for taller users.

4. Tidy Turd Kit

The small and lightweight Tidy Turd Kit is one of the best portable options to take on walks or to the dog park. It comes with leak-proof bags that fit over the scoop, so you don't need to wear gloves or risk touching the mess.

3. Flexrake Standard

If you want a solution that will last for years, the Flexrake Standard has a spade and pan that are both made of durable, high-quality aluminum. It also has a molded vinyl handle, making it comfortable to use no matter how many dogs you have to pick up after.

2. Nature's Miracle Jaw Scoop

If you have a bad back, then the Nature's Miracle Jaw Scoop is an ideal solution, as it doesn't require any bending to get the job done. It's a great choice if you use a composting bin to handle your pet's waste, as it can pick it up and drop it off neatly.

1. Arm & Hammer 71034

The Arm & Hammer 71034 conveniently swivels, so you don't need to constantly pick it up and reposition it as you move around the yard. It also has a more discreet look than most scoopers, so it can safely blend in with your other gardening tools when guests come to visit.

Scoop In The Name Of Society

Unless you feel the slip of it, or you or somebody with you sees it happen, there's liable to be a gap between the moment you step in dog droppings and the moment you realize it. It's usually the smell that gives it away. I wish there was some manner by which I could fix a camera on the face of someone who stepped in it but didn't know it yet, just to capture that instant of recognition, that flash of shame, and fear, and begrudging certainty that we've all felt when we realized the source of that suspicious aroma.

Of course, all of this pain and strife could be avoided if everybody just picked up after their pets. This is a utopian concept, I know, but change starts with each and every one of us doing what we can. The pooper scoopers on our list seek to make what could be a rather unpleasant chore into something simple and painless, so each of us can do his or her part.

There are people out there who practice the inverted bag method, by which they reach through a plastic bag with their otherwise bare hand and grab the remains right off the lawn, pulling them up and turning the bag inside out, trapping the stuff inside. Not only is this method unnecessarily unsanitary (one hole in that bag is all it takes), it also does nothing to save you from feeling the warmth of the material as you pick it up, and just typing that makes me squeamish.

A pooper scooper puts a safe distance between you and the offensive pile in question, either cleanly raking the leavings directly into a bag or bin, or grabbing them up in a long plastic device that marries the design of a backhoe and a pair of forceps.

Methods Of Disposal

I've never met a pooper scooper I would describe as durable. For 15 years I had a fantastic little beagle names Lwpos (a private initialism pronounced like Lupus, the Latin for "wolf"), and he was nothing if not an excrement machine. We burned through an average of two scoopers per year, though, to be honest we didn't take very good care of them.

If you live in an area where there is a lot of rain or snow come winter, or a lot of intense shifts in temperature and humidity over the course of a single day, your pooper scoopers may not last as long as you like. I was notorious for leaving our pooper scooper out in the snow and allowing its metal hinges to rust. A modicum of care ought to get you a few more years out of your pooper scooper than I could muster, but don't expect them to last forever.

Without placing a huge emphasis on durability, then, you can make your decision among the pooper scoopers on our top ten list by considering a couple of other variables. First, do you prefer the clamp or the rake? The clamp design works a lot like those reach-and-grab devices you sometimes see the elderly or the vertically challenged using at the grocery store to reach the top shelf. Instead of a C-shaped clamp at the end, though, these devices have two rounded shovels that slide underneath the target, effectively scooping it up.

The rake works more like a push broom with its very own dust pan. Unlike the clamp design, these require two hands to operate, so if you prefer a method that allows you to Instagram your scooping operations, you'll want the clamp.

Next, you should ask yourself if you plan to use bags at all, and if you want a bag directly involved in the scooping. This question really depends on how often you scoop. I was a weekly scooper, so I'd carry a bag with me and load up on the whole week's worth. Daily scoopers, or those of you who work on a walk-by-walk basis could get away without any bags, dropping the goods in a neighbor's trash can instead.

A Pile On The Political Landscape

Before the turn of the 20th century, there wasn't much dog training to speak of in the United States. During the Second World War, the American military trained and employed a significant number of soldiers to teach field animals how to sniff out bombs and mines, as well as how to cohabitate with their fellow soldiers. After the end of the war, these trainers returned home and put their newfound knowledge and skills to work, professionally training dogs to live more sweetly among us.

Still, despite this increase in training, the general attitude toward anything these dogs might have left behind was one of avoidance. What the dogs did outside was their business, not ours. If there's anybody that can find the value in a pile of you-know-what, however, it's a politician, and in the 1960s, politicians with specific agendas would hide bits of personal legislation in the fine print of bills directed at ridding their municipalities' streets of poop.

The measures were immensely popular among city-dwellers tired of scraping the stuff off of their shoes, and almost nobody looked into the other provisions set forth in the bills. In short order, Brooke Miller of Anaheim California invented the first pooper scooper, a small scooping mechanism much like the rake and pan models on our list. By 1978, curbing laws had taken hold in San Francisco, New York City, and a slew of other cities across America.

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Quincy is a writer who was born in Texas, but moved to Los Angeles to pursue his life-long dream of someday writing a second page to one of his screenplays.

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